Friday, August 28, 2009

Pumpkinhead is coming to Portland's Bagdad Theater on 35mm! Special effects artist Stan Winston's directorial debut is a massively underrated 80's fairy tale about love, loss, and the serpentine DEMON OF VENGEANCE! Lavished in moonlit indigo hues and featuring Lance Henriksen as a downhome dad hellbent on southern justice, this cult classic makes up for its simplistic story with owl hooting atmosphere and one of the most satisfying monsters in cinematic history. Sure, Winston gets a bit longwinded and probably could've edited about 30 minutes for a tighter ride (and made those dorky teens even more deserving of punishment) but once Pumpkinhead emerges from the mist...all hell breaks loose (just like the poster promises)! I don't think I'm spoiling much by revealing that the plot hinges on ol' Ed Harley's visit to a haggard backwoods witch who sends him on a midnight dig at the local cemetery. So here's the contest: What is the name of the woods where the old cemetery is located? Be the first to post the correct answer as a comment and I'll make sure you get two tickets to the one-night only screening of Pumpkinhead next Saturday, September 5th! The movie is only $3 anyway, so you can't blame the economy for missing this one, but the Bagdad Theater is also a full bar so if you win you can buy your date a pitcher of locally brewed Hammerhead Stout for the occasion. Sorry, you must be over 21 to win. Good luck, Nerds!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Eric Isaacson is the owner of Mississippi Records here in beautiful Portland, Oregon. Eric's motto is, "Always, love over gold" and his humble shop is one of the few vinyl-only sanctuaries left in the Pacific Northwest. It's also the subject of our latest installment of Gross Anatomy! At Mississippi Records you won't find a huge selection of metal & punk records BUT since Eric refuses to cater to the highest bidder on E-bay you're bound to find some reasonably priced gems hidden amongst all the rare jazz and $2 Krokus records. Needless to say, I was stoked when he asked me to design the jerseys for his 'Mississippi Wreckers' softball team! I know, I know. Softball isn't very metal. But Eric is a righteous brother and this turned out to be a fun project. So let's take a look at how it came together...

Eric wanted zombie hands holding a broken record in sort of a cartoony EC Comics style. Fuck yeah! He came to the right place. I scribbled this sketch on a note pad at the store to make sure we were on the same page and then got to work...

As usual, from the scribble I created a rough sketch to get a sense of the dimensions and details. This was going to be silkscreened so I had to resist the temptation to go crazy with detail and shading.

But I still managed to sneak in some detail and a few maggots for good measure.

Here's the final image before it was reversed and the logo was added.

And here are the badass Mississippi Wreckers!

Woops! Wrong photo.

Here are the real Mississippi Wreckers in all their undead glory! I think their final stats were 1-12 which, for the unathletic among us (and that's pretty much every slob reading this), means they only won one game. But DAMN! They sure looked good losing! Visit Eric if you're ever in the Northwest. And remember: always, love over gold.

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Here's a new flyer I banged out to commemorate the triumphant return (and inevitable passing out) of Northwest "Death Punk" legends Wehrmacht! As you can see, I've expanded my ballpoint arsenal to include my daughter's $1.75 watercolor paints and a red Sharpie. It must be summer. Aside from their uncanny allegiance to a beer that is arguably worse than Pabst Blue Ribbon and their ability to puke on command, Wehrmacht is further distinguished for having written a song that makes Napalm Death's 'You Suffer' sound like wanky prog rock. I hope they play it twice cause if you burp you'll miss it. To celebrate this special occasion, Engorged will be flying in from their secret bunker at Shotgun Gulch to debut new songs from the forthcoming LP House of Cthulhu plus a few surprises they haven't played live in years! The Hawthorne Theater has a liberal attitude toward stage diving so I hope to see you thrashers in the air. "E...!!!!"